


1001 + 2324

by ZoudiazZoe



Category: Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic
Genre: Age Difference, Aladdin is 11 at the beginning, Aladdin is underage and he does not give a shit, Alma Torran exists, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Arranged Marriage, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Mpreg, Not Beta Read, Omega Verse, Same-Sex Marriage, Shota, Shotacon, Underage Kissing, You Have Been Warned, kinda soulmates, like really
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-20
Updated: 2017-08-11
Packaged: 2018-08-16 10:30:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 15,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8098717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZoudiazZoe/pseuds/ZoudiazZoe
Summary: During a trip to the far and hidden lands of Alma Torran, business man and billionaire Ren Kouen 'saves' an Omega's life. He accepted, he didn’t expect things to turn out in that way.Now he is ‘happily’ married with an Omega who knows a lot but says nothing. And a few foes in their way, Kouen himself being―unconsciously ― one of them





	1. Enchanted

**Author's Note:**

  * For [april_zephyr (April_Zephyr)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/April_Zephyr/gifts).



> Main pairing: Kouen x Aladdin.
> 
> Side pairings: Alibaba x Kougyoku, Hakuryuu x Alibaba (one sided), Sinbad x Ja’far - Sinja, Kouen x Judal (past relationship), Zagan x Hakuryuu - Zaguryuu and more to be added.
> 
> Omegaverse.
> 
> Warnings: Un-beta'd

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Same old tired, lonely place  
> Walls of insincerity  
> Shifting eyes and vacancy vanished when I saw your face"

He spent, almost, his whole life planning this trip. No one was going to ruin it for him.  
He had already left someone in charge of Ren Emprises & Security. Maybe his option of substitute wasn’t the best one; but he deserved this vacation! After his uncle and father died, Kouen had to take care of everything around. His siblings and cousins were all younger than him, except for Hakuryuu’s older brothers, but he was not going to even think about them.

Alma Torran has been his dream city since he could remember; it was a shame that a civil war had exploded before he could even see the Imperial reign that kept itself closed. All that knowledge in one place was not fair, and the red-haired craved that knowledge since … ever! Obviously, the place looked nothing like the pictures and videos he’d seen as a kid. The streets were dirty and there were a lot of street merchants and beggars.  
The conditions never mattered to him, after all, he was there right now. And that was the important thing. Besides, he had the money to bribe people into letting him get to the places he desired the most, like the library―rumor has is that it is the biggest, not even Alexandria, in its time, was as magnificent as Alma Torran’s.

  
The odds were on his favor, and if they weren’t. Well, Kouen wasn’t a billionaire of his own just because of hierarchy. He’s been managing the finances of every single member of the Ren family for years now; saved the precise amount in a bank, and gave as allowance a quarter of the same to his siblings and cousins. Thing that did not apply to Hakuei and Koumei―they were already off age, and working for themselves― and Kourin―who was already married and off living in Paris or some fancy place like that―, so he just needed to make the deposit of their share on time. And everything was perfect.  
Where the rest of his money came from, was a thing he had not to explain to anyone else.

Kouen kept with him the old magazine, making comparisons of what it has been and what it was now. The security was strong, if he weren’t a witty man, he’d had been scammed by now. But alas for the people in the city, he was intelligent. He has not being in charge of one of the best and biggest companies around the world since he was 17 for nothing.  
He prepared himself rather perfectly, light cotton clothes for the day; and something warm for the night. His shades covered his mahogany eyes as he made his way through the city of his dreams.

This was his 5th day in Alma Torran, and yet he hadn’t been able to visit the Library, which was his destination right now.

Four days with no luck in entering the place, this one was going to be his lucky day, his wallet told him so.

 

His wallet lied, his lucky star lied. For all moments to be trapped in a … manifestation, it had to be today. Kouen wanted to scream and punch someone … hard … in the face. There was no such a thing as public transportation, and the man who rented camels and horses was nowhere to be seen. He got lost trying to get out of the sea of people―who would, more likely, end up killed by the government.

That was how dictators worked after all. Common sense.

 

He found himself totally disgusted, he was sweating and lost. The two things he hated the most in life. Kouen had no fucking idea where he was or where should he go now to return to his hotel and take a proper bath; and hopefully tomorrow that library will not escape him. There was a sweet scent in the air; he didn’t like sweets but that smell was making him need more. Lemons and something else…. He looked around.

  
A girl in white and blue robes was in front of him, she was wearing a white with red and blue dupatta. Her chest was bandaged, that much he could see; she smiled at him, Kouen was not in the mood to smile, but he kind of grinned back at her; the kid was not at fault of the hell of a day he’d had.He always thought that take his anger against an innocent child was something wrong, so he was not going to be impolite to the blue haired―was her hair really blue?― the girl approached him with that big smile of hers, there was a golden flute hanging around her neck, and she was carrying a basket with lemons and flowers and figs … maybe. There were a lot of things in that basket.

She was standing in front of him now, smile wider than before and a mischievous gleam in her sapphire blue eyes, the little bit of wind that was blowing in the moment carried her aroma with it. Lemons and sandalwood.

The CEO couldn’t help but inhale, it was refreshing and soothing.

 

The girl’s lips moved, but he didn’t catch a word she said. He asked her to repeat.  
She looked at him and shook her head. Kouen had no idea what was happening, she repeated the action, and it hit him. “No,” he said the next time she shook her head, she seemed out of guard, but she repeated after a couple of minutes in silence.  
“No?” Kouen nodded. She nodded this time.

“Yes,” Kouen indicated to her.

“Yesh?”  
“No, yes!”

“Yes?”  
“Correct!”  
“Corecto?” he couldn’t help but laugh about that. Although it must have come out more like a snort than a laugh if he was being honest to himself.  
“Torrai?” Torrai was the native language of Alma Torran. One didn’t have to be a genius to figure out what was she asking. He said no this time. He knew a little of the language; just the stuff that was in the books. Alma Torran had been a shut-in country after all. The girl pouted, the CEO thought she looked cute.

She asked if he spoke Hebrew (in Hebrew) or Arabic (in Arabic); he answered that he only knew a little bit of them, but not enough to keep a conversation with her. He signaled with his fingers―index almost touching the thumb. “A little,” she repeated the action.  
“Lee-tle, English,” and that was how Kouen lost a good amount of time explaining the girl how to pronounce ‘little’.

Before the Sunset, a black haired man stood next to the girl. He said something to the girl, and the girl kept pointing at him. The man, who was wearing glasses, cared enough to look at Kouen for the first time. Kouen nodded and coughed at the same time.  
“Aladdin says you seemed lost,” thank the Gods! “She just wanted to help but she does not speak English.”

“Was she trying to?” That sounded something a child would do, dusk was welcoming night; and the smell of lemons and sandalwood intensified.

“I can give you directions, Mr., if you want to.” Aladdin pulled the man’s robe, he crouched and she whispered something into his ear, the man blushed hard, and then laughed. “She says that you have a sweet smell, she likes it.” Kouen’s right eyebrow almost touched the top of his head, and there he was thinking he must stink by now.  
“I am, or was, looking for the Golden Staff Hotel. Can you tell me where it is?” He was going to the point, the black-haired man took a map―apparently he sells them― and with a pen he explained to the CEO how to get back to his hotel. Kouen was going to pay him, but he refused.

“If my girl likes you I cannot charge you,” he insisted. “It’s on the house.” Something …. Someone pulled from his cotton pants; he looked down to meet big sapphire-blue eyes. Aladdin wanted his attention, weird girl. She was grabbing a handful of dates. Those weird eyes of the girl kept looking at him, he took them and she smiled. She went back next to his father, or big brother…. He had no idea. “Those dates are a gift from her.”  
“Why Aladdin?” he asked the man, he paled. He hit a nerve, most likely. “Isn’t that a man’s name?” There was no answer, he was not hoping for much of an answer if he was being honest. “You are?”

Little by little, the color went back to man’s face. “Ugo Noi-No, Just Ugo for friends, and clients” he said. Kouen would be lying if he said he didn’t find that estrange. But he said nothing at all.

Kouen took his leave, not a few feet away from the strange pair and he heard the voice of the girl. “I enchanted met you!” that kind of made him smile a little. The girl will have to learn English, but that was none of his problems.

The next day he tried his luck again, he was not going to leave until he could enter that library! Luck was not in his favor, maybe money would be.

“You will never get access to that place,” a familiar voice said behind him. When he turned Ugo was there, his basket was on the floor maybe it was a bad luck for selling, he wondered.  
“And why is that?” he raised a brow.  
“Everything’s been shut-down for Arba.”

If he remembered correctly, Arba is the name of one of the King’s court members, the one who betrayed and ignited the war that killed the royal family and drove Alma Torran to what it was now.

“What are you, exactly, looking for?”

“History, mostly. Language and codices.” Ugo thought about it for a second, there was no way this man would know a thing about it.

“Down the street, where Arajiin is selling dates, you can find a nice place to drink a strong coffee and read.” Kouen looked at him weirded out; maybe it was some kind of code.  
He had no idea why, but he followed it. He walked down the street; he saw the girl smiling and selling her dates, she was irradiating a nice kind of light. Her flute always hanging from her neck. The moment she saw him, her smile grew and her blue eyes shone, it was dazzling. “Friend!” she pointed at him, so full of excitement.

He sat down in a chair a little too uncomfortable for his own taste, but he did not complain at all. He ordered a black coffee, lemonade and some biscuits. He did not touch the biscuits once they were served. The dry fruits didn’t seem so appealing for him; he just waited for the moment.

And the moment came after a few minutes, when Aladdin turned around and her sapphire like eyes locked with his mahogany ones. He signaled the girl to approach, so she did; he offered her to take a seat, even though she doubted about it she obliged after just 3 or 4 seconds. They shared a couple of words in Torrai―a couple of the lack of the language he possessed―, he invited her to eat, and at that moment no doubt was shown on her face, just pure excitement as she started to shove biscuits into her mouth. Not a gracious sight, but a pitiful and yet kind of funny one.

Kouen had no knowledge of the existence of both at the same time. So, it was weird for him to feel any of them, and worse, both at the same time.

 

He did not dwell into his thoughts about the matter when Ugo appeared, or he thought he saw the man behind some palm trees. Unmistakable it was Ugo waving and signaling to him. Kouen was worried of what could that mean, but he was also curious, and curiosity always won over him.

Somehow, when the girl finished her food, he ended up accompanying her to her house. It wasn’t bothersome as he would have thought it’d be the smell of lemons and sandalwood surrounding her was soothing in a strange way, a way he didn’t mind at all. A way that made him want to stay close and protect … and where the hell did those thoughts come from?  
The house of Aladdin, which by the way, still sounded like a boy’s name for a girl; was not that far away, and it was not so big, but it wasn’t in the state other houses could be in the place after everything that had happened in that Country.

It was more like a cabin than a house, for the kind of weather in Alma Torran he doubted that was the best kind of structure a house should have, but he was no one to judge. Aladdin led him to her house; and now he was wondering if that was good or not.  
Ugo was waiting in the threshold for them, Kouen stayed behind. He was analyzing the situation; everything seemed so surreal and dangerous. He let his guard down and that was not ok, not at all. This could be a trap for all he knew, but that goddamned scent numbed his senses and he could just not think straight, he just wanted to follow the girl wherever she’d go. That was something not so Kouen thing to do; and he was conscious of such important fact about everything going on in there.

The man entered the house; he left the door open. He came back with a thin blanket covering something. It was shaped in the form of a big and heavy box; a part of the cloth or blanket, ―or whatever it was― slide down; the redhead noticed it was a book, an old one and maybe good one. His sight was almost perfect, but he couldn’t make what was written on the cover. As fast as he was able to process he was standing next to the dark haired man, Ugo indicated him with his head the inside of the house. He followed blindly.

The place was not big. There was a small kitchen was right next to the dinning and the living room, which was the same thing, if he deduced correctly. Three doors, two in the same wall―at 2 feet of distance― and another diagonal to the first one. The CEO noticed that the Persian carpet has been moved, did the black haired man had another door on the floor? That was the best guess he could make.

Ugo handed him the book. Kouen took it carefully, as if it would break at the contact with his fingertips.

It was quite old, the pages were of a yellow color and they felt rusty at the touch; it was written in ancient Torrai. The one he had studied with the help of his assistants, and it was perfect. In detail, he could get that that specific book had all the religious history of the Country.

 

“It is yours, if you promise to take the rest,” the rest? Did he have more with him? “I managed to save a few of the books of the King’s personal library. They are catalogued as missing from Alma Torran’s Library.”

This man was insane. He was offering him thousands of years of history, not even that, this book alone must cost no less than a million dollars. And it was offered to him for nothing! “What do you want in return?” asked the CEO skeptically.

“Take them away the Country and keep them safe.” Repeated the man.  
He was going to answer to him when the voice of Aladdin caught both men’s attention; the girl was now half-nude and asking something to her guardian.  
The redhead looked at her. She was supposed to be 11, but her body showed no signs of growth; he could have sworn that maybe she was younger or suffered of some kind of ‘growth deprived’ disease.

 

Ugo gave away all the answers he needed when he hurried Aladdin inside of the room the kid has come out, he covered Aladdin’s body with the dupatta she was wearing before, and left forgotten on the floor. “Aladdin is not a girl.” That must have been a question, but it did not come out of his mouth as one. Ugo paled.

“Please, sir. Say nothing about Aladdin’s condition!” the man was pleading; Aladdin was looking from Ugo to Kouen with questions in those blue eyes of his.  
“What exactly is his condition?” he remarked the word his. Tasting the sound, the idea.  
“Omegas, male Omegas, are a sin to this place. Our late King was trying his best to change that, but it was futile. Aladdin was born an Omega … I don’t want him to … they would kil―”

 

The CEO had no need to listen to the rest. Some places treated male Omegas as an abomination and killed them for the same reasons. Male Omegas were also the first ones to develop, the internal organs they possessed were a giveaway of their biological conditions.  
Alphas or Betas usually discovered their biological role at age 13. Male Omegas and female Alphas were different; they tend to know right away.

Even though, Kouen never found out he was an Alpha until he was 15 and accidentally smelled one of his classmates’ first heat; that had been an awkward week for the whole school.

“Then leave, take Aladdin and leave.” The man sighed resigned and shook his head.  
“We can’t. I have reasons that do not allow me to do so,” he looked at Aladdin, the boy looked back at him and smiled. Aladdin then looked at the redhead, he pointed at Ugo.  
“Ugo first friend,” the man was not the father, nor the brother. It must have been pretty obvious from the beginning, there was no family resemblance.

“I have Aladdin living as a girl. ’She' cannot leave unless ‘she’s’ married,”

“That will be complicated the moment people notice there are no noticeable changes in the body.” Kouen said, more to himself than to his audience. There was a sepulchral silence in the house now.

For some reason, this man was giving him valuable books to take away with him. He wasn’t even charging him for them. An idea occurred to him, an idea as stupid that it could be Kouha’s.  
“I’ll marry Aladdin,” Ugo and the before mentioned looked at him.

There was nothing but silence and stares.

 

“You are a good man,” said the man, Kouen doubted himself for a moment. But big blue eyes were staring at him. Was this kid going to stop staring at him sometime soon? He hoped so. “Here’s Aladdin’s document. I’ll turn it on the day of the wedding,” he went for his right pocket and took out what seemed a few gold pebbles. Kouen denied them.  
Besides, he already had a book, and he’d have a few more after the night fell.  
“If I wanted the money, I would have run away with it before,” the blue eyes of the kid were driving him mad, why was he looking at him as if he had all the answers of the universe? Maybe he wasn’t that good and, deep down, wanted something from the kid. What was it? He had no idea … yet.

Kouen took the document and read it carefully. “They will know is a boy if I show this,” stated him matter-of-factly. His long index was pointing at the name of the boy, ‘Aladdin Jehoa’. The man, Ugo, laughed.

“That can be read as Aladdin or Arajiin, there would be no problem.” He patted the kid’s head affectionately, the small ball of cheeks and blackish-blue hair nuzzled as a cat against the Arabian man. He quirked an eyebrow. “They will immediately think it is Arajiin and let it pass. Not even when leaving the country you will have problems.” Kouen shrugged it off, he wasn’t that convinced about it. He knew why he was doing that; there was something driving him to do it, there was something this Ugo man and Aladdin weren’t telling him.  
And maybe, he would get all the information out of the boy once they were out of the poor country for good. Kouen was not a man of good heart; he was a CEO for goodness sake, so helping the Arabian man to take an Omega boy out of a country by marriage―and pretending such boy was a girl― was something he wasn’t supposed to be doing. Not for charity, not for anything else, he wasn’t even getting paid out for such arrangement.

They had planned a community Wedding, that would be more discreet than a private one. The next one was going to be 9 days from that day.

 

*~*~*

The day of the wedding arrived faster than he had hoped. Ugo took him into his house to prepare him for the day that was coming ahead. He could see how the man was about to cry now and then. In front of him, lying on the bed was a skirt, a loose shirt and a veil of sorts. They were white with gold, and the veil was sapphire blue―like his future spouse’s eyes.

Ugo helped him to bathe and dress, as was tradition, apparently. Aladdin was nowhere to be seen; he wanted to ask, but it may be caused due to religious beliefs, and the groom not seeing the ‘bride’ before the wedding and all that jazz. Having the black-haired man that close, he noticed something. He wore make-up and a strong foundation by the way. And the roots of his hair were white. Kouen wondered if he was getting older in a weird pace or if he was hiding something. The CEO opted more for the second one; he’d get to the bottom of things soon enough.

The robes were not so tight, not so loose. They fit perfectly. The veil was meant to adorn his chest in a diagonal way; and Ugo placed a golden belt around his hipbones. Even though his red hair wasn’t that long, the man managed to comb it into a braid before applying henna on his left hand.

That part was weird. Because first, he applied a violet ink on his hand, the design vanished as fast as he draw the patterns. Then he applied black ink, a total different design, but this one remained.

 

They were about to leave the house when Ugo grabbed him by the shoulder, Kouen turned around to see what he wanted now, the tall man was no more able to hide his tears. “Please, be gentle and careful with Aladdin.” Even though he wasn’t a person of physical contact, the CEO took Ugo’s hand in his. “He is the only thing I have left.” And then, he wanted (accepted) Kouen to marry him and take him away. That didn’t make sense at all.  
“I’ll take care of things.” Ugo nodded, squeezed his hand tight and let it go. They started the journey to the temple, slow pace. It was a bad omen to hurry things up on a wedding day.

They got to the temple. For a long time, Kouen thought that the magazines and articles on the internet were exaggerating, but now, he could see with his own eyes how true such things were.  
There, in front of him was large line of older men, some of them younger; yet, he could bet everything he possessed in the fact that he was the youngest groom in the place. He turned himself to look at Ugo, his handsome face was twisted with fear and sadness. “Has Alma Torran always done this?” Ugo shook his head. His lips barely moved, but Kouen was able to listen to what he was saying.

“Since the war,” he sighed sadly. “The new, so called, ruler modified everything. Made deals with radical groups and cults. This is not Alma Torran.

“This is nothing but a broken and stained mirror of what we used to be.”  
Kouen nodded, they soon enough took place in the line. A lot of men turned their heads to look at him; he wasn’t the only foreign in that place, but he wasn’t like the others.

 

They didn’t have to wait long enough; a caravan of women walked towards them all, they faces covered in veils. All dressed in black and gold; in their hands were the hands of the young brides.

The oldest one must be around Aladdin’s age, a knot tightened in his stomach. That wasn’t right; was it? Ugo elbowed him and he looked up. A fair skinned with reddish-orange hair was walking with Aladdin. Well, the boy looked his part; he made for a pretty bride. His black-blue hair was loose; two small and long braids adorned his sides, at the top of his head, two horn-like buns.

“Falan you….” He heard Ugo complain about something, he didn’t care. His mahogany eyes―and his brain―were totally fixated on his future spouse.  
His attire was nothing but a white with gold crop-top; a short white skirt―that personally, looked more like a cloth― and red piece of clothing, which went from his right shoulder to his hips and ended in a perfectly done knot just below his navel.

His right hand was also painted with henna, and bracelets adorned his arms. A spark of violet made Kouen blink a couple of times, have they done the same to Aladdin’s hand? Or was he going mad?

 

Once each bride was delivered to their rightful groom, they were allowed into the temple. There was excessively incense. The  _Sheikh_  started it off with a long speech of how honored the wives to be should be. That the wife should also be honored, and a long list of things Kouen didn’t catch at all. His knowledge in the language wasn’t as vast as he had expected it to be. Not for a wedding ceremony at least.

The  _Sheikh_  talked about how the  _Aqd Nikah_  should be honored―everything must be honored with this people. And that the proof of that will come during the wedding night.  
Ugo, as the birde’s eldest male member of her family spoke to Kouen and the rest, other men did the same, and some of them were the fathers of the other brides.

The reception happened in a hotel, not as fancy as he’d have liked but well. They arrived following the  _zaff_ a, and everybody stepped aside to let the just married couples in. There was a long table in the front; Kouen and Aladdin were guided to some―rather―comfortable seats behind the white-clothed table.

If he remembered correctly, they had to exchange rings from the right hand to the left after the  _sharbat_  was passed. The redhead discovered what that was soon enough. When everybody had taken a seat, a cup was passed. “Take just a small sip, or pretend you drink,” he whispered to Aladdin, the boy nodded, his eyes were avoiding Kouen’s since they left the temple. Aladdin took the cup in his hands, looked at Kouen and said: “Your health,” he drank and passed it to Kouen, he had to repeat the action.

But when his eyes locked in the sapphire blue of his spouse, he raised the cup and said: “To our health,” and he drank; the cheeks of the kid were red, it was adorable.  
A belly dancer and a singer opened the festivity; lots of trays with food were served. There was even a cake in the place. “I hoping they give  _Fattah_ ,” exclaimed Aladdin loud enough for Kouen to hear him.

“You like  _fattah_  a lot, don’t you?” Aladdin nodded excitedly. To Kouen’s left there was a long tray full of pieces of lamb meat embedded in rice and bread dipped in stew; slowly he placed the tray next to his spouse, his sapphire like eyes went wide open and a particular gleam took over them. “It’s your lucky day then.”

One of the many surprises of that day was the amount of food Aladdin could eat, at first, Kouen was amused, and then he got preoccupied to end his mood in an annoyed way. Almost everybody was staring at them … most specifically at Aladdin’s eating habits. Even though he possessed good manners, the amount of food that was served and disappeared from his plate was … weird, and kind of vexing. The redhead wondered how much money will he lose just by feeding the little kid.

The party continued until late, Ugo and the woman who gave Aladdin away nodded at him. They had to leave now. He once heard that these kinds of weddings were a long celebration for the guest, but the groom and the bride had to leave early. And so they did, they were the third couple to leave the place, others followed after them.

When they reached the big ivory door of the hotel’s garden, two men were waiting for them. One asked if he was Ren Kouen, he nodded and the men indicated to follow them. Thing they did, they followed this two like guards men to the 5th floor of the hotel. And here he was planning to take Aladdin back to his own hotel room. They opened the door of room 502 and let them in.

 

The room was well decorated, the curtains of the window were of a light purple, the wind coming from the balcony, the bed was big, but not big enough. If this was a nuptial bedroom, they should have a bigger bed at least. The duvet matched with the curtains, and seemed to be silk. Candles adorned the place; even the big chandelier had them.  
Well, it wasn’t a bad room at least; the combination of purple, black and white was made in a good way. The person in charge had good taste.

When the door closed behind them, Kouen felt in all liberty to take all the ornaments Ugo made him wear, he walked by the room, examining each corner; the bathroom was not bad, he’d had placed a bigger bathtub and chose another color for the towels. But those were details.  
It was a small cough what made Kouen go back to the room, he looked at Aladdin, and the boy looked back at him. Realization hit him hard.

He heard the voices of the men outside the room; they were making bets or something like that. For what he was able to listen and understand, they were wondering if his ‘wife’ would need a hospital for the next morning or if she was going to survive the wedding night.  
No one prepared Kouen about what the night brought to him. How was he supposed to ‘consummate’ the marriage with Aladdin if there were people outside their bedroom? And they were clearly not passing by. Ugo never told him about that part. He sat on the bed, rubbing his tired eyes; why did he accept to be carried into this mess? What was in there for him to win? (The books, that were a total of 23, did not count).

Aladdin was still standing next to the door, his feet were facing each other ―in the same way Hakuryuu’s did sometime in the past. He’d have to fix that ASAP―, and he was playing with his fingers. Could this boy have any idea of what was expected from them?   
Kouen tried to smile, and patted the space next to him, slowly and dubitatively the 11 year-old approached him; the bed was too tall for his short self, so the CEO helped him. It wasn’t unnoticed by the redhead that Aladdin trembled more when he touched him, he was just trying to help him.

When he managed to let the boy in the bed, he kept his distance, once more, from his spouse. He didn’t contemplate the idea that was Aladdin the one approaching him, one of his small hands touching his thigh, those big blue eyes digging holes into his soul―he felt it like that.

 

“You need help?” he asked, noticing that the boy was still wearing jewelry on him. Aladdin looked at himself, and nodded, he said a soft please. With that, Kouen started to work; he didn’t want to damage anything he was wearing, so he removed every single piece of gold carefully.  
In the end, the young Omega was left just with his robes.

His hair was full loose now, and it was longer than that braid of his showed. It shown bright black in the dim light, so the blue strands were only an effect created by the light, interesting. The long hair was tickling him a little; those blue eyes were tempting him so much. After all, he hasn’t had intercourse with no one after he broke up with his crazy ex-boyfriend. It was a normal reaction of his body.

Kouen just noticed how well Aladdin smelled, like lemons and sandalwood; he inhaled deeply the aroma coming from his small and bare neck. And no one could blame him for tasting it, just with the tip of his tongue, then with his lips, he dared to add some teeth at the act; the small body in his arms was arching, he could feel the fast beating of his heart against his chest.

He marked all the visible skin, from neck to jaw. He kissed the boy’s cheeks and finished lost in his lips, his mouth. So small, so warm, so inexperienced and so new.  
So young….

Kouen broke the kiss, if he weren’t the grown man he is, he’d had shoved the boy aside with such force he’d had needed an ambulance. Aladdin’s face was so red; his eyes were so crystalline and watery. What was he doing? He was forcing a kid to something they shouldn’t be doing. Aladdin blinked a couple of times; he turned his head like an owl. The redhead just stood with him still in his arms, he lifted the soft silk duvet, and placed him on the bed carefully.

The next thing he did was bit his thumb until it started to bleed. Aladdin, at the sight of that stood fast, but with his other hand, Kouen, calmed him down; he cleaned the blood coming out of his thumb on the white sheets. It should be dry and believable in the morning. He took his cellphone and opened the browser.

How ironic was that the first time, in 28 years, he looked for pornography was not to watch it, but to have some background noise and fool the ‘guards’ outside their bedroom.

 

He looked for videos for about 10 minutes; in the picture of one of them was a young teenager boy. The title said something about ‘Twinkie gets fucked by old man’. That one should be convincing enough, he turned all the volume of his cellphone and let it play for the ―most agonizing―15 minutes it lasted. But the deed was done. His spouse was untouched, mostly, and the people guarding them must have been completely convinced by now that ‘Arajiin’ was rightfully his. And safe … in some way.

It was kind of late to think of the other consequences that might happen. How was he supposed to explain, in his own country, that he married an eleven years-old without spending a good amount of time behind the bars? He will have to think of something, and better do it fast.

He will have to make a call early in the morning, maybe a couple of calls. One to cancel his ticket back home and the other to ask for his private jet to come and pick them up, he’d have to ask Koumei about discretion and to make some arrangements at the airport for him. That was going to be a pain. Everything was a pain right now. He did not know when he fell asleep, but he was grateful for that.

 

His sleep was dreamless, he let his senses down―thing he wouldn’t allow in any other situation―, and there was a nice kind of warmth around him. Every now and then, he was able to feel a softness of an embrace, so small that he felt the need to protect and take care of.  
Maybe all those sudden events made his ‘Alpha Instincts’ ―as Agares called them― to kick in after 13 years of being (more like having the knowledge of him being) an Alpha. The smell of lemon and sandalwood filled his nostrils, and he drifted into a dreamless and thoughtless sleep once again.

Kouen was woken up by the chirping of birds, the Sun has not risen completely yet; but someone else was already full awake. Aladdin was standing in the balcony of the room, the chilly air of the dawn waving his hair. The CEO left the bed and went to stand next to the boy, he wanted to ask what was in his mind; but somehow, he knew he didn’t need them.  
“My last night on Alma Torran?” asked Aladdin.

“ ‘In’” Kouen corrected. He sighed as his spouse looked at him with questioning eyes. “ ‘On’ is used only for specific places, you use ‘In’ when you talk of Countries, Continents or big places.” The boy nodded, for someone who just started learning English a week or so ago, he was making a big progress.

“But, last night in Alma Torran?” asked again he.

“No, today will be our last night in here and we leave,” which reminded him that he needed to make a few phone calls. He asked Aladdin about taking a bath, so they could leave the place. Maybe go for something to eat. Fattah, Kouen’s mind screamed at him. He shook his head as he walked all the way to the bathroom, the least he could do was prepare the bathtub for the kid.

He let the water run for a while, it was too cold outside for barely warm water, but he knew that the temperature would increase once the Sun comes out. Therefore, he waited until he seemed the temperature of the water perfect for the boy.

Once it was done, he helped his spouse out of his wedding robes and into the tub. The boy was still looking at him, the redhead didn’t know any more if he liked those eyes or not. He was sure he would never, ever get use to them. But he had to get out of the bathroom before his face got two, neatly-done and blue, holes in it.

 

When he stepped out of the bathroom, there were two house cleaners in the room. He was about to ask about their presence when he looked at what they had in their hands. The sheets in which they had slept last night. One of the maids smiled at him, as the other started her way to the balcony … she was not going to…?

Both maids laid the silky sheet in the riling of the balcony. Kouen’s blood facing the wide and busy streets of that part of Alma Torran; and then he thought that practice was over a few decades, if not hundreds of years ago.

 

The maids bowed him goodbye and exited the room. Knowing himself ‘alone’ he grabbed his phone and dialed the code before his brother’s number. The tired and sleepy voice of Koumei greeted him.

“ _Bro_ ,” he knew it was way too early in that part of the world, and ―knowing his younger brother― he pulled an all-nighter doing his weird researches.

“I need you to do something for me,” he went straight to the point, as always.  
“ _How can I…_ ” a yawn. “ _… Be of assistance to you, brother and boss?_ ”

“Cancel my plan ticket and send the private jet to pick me up. I have to leave tomorrow at 4 pm.”

“ _Did something happen?_ ” He heard a lot of noise, something falling down and hitting the floor hard. Probably Koumei himself.

“I got married. Also, arrange for customs for not making a deal of things.”  
“ _You … what? Brother and boss, you are not the type of perso who jokes about―_ ”  
“I have to go; I’ll be expecting the plane.” And he hung up the phone, he was not ready to explain his brother about his marriage…. Or anyone for the matter.

 

“Kouen,” the voice of Aladdin made him turn around. Even though the boy was wearing a towel his long and dark-blue hair was dripping water everywhere, it also was stuck to his face, shoulders and … everywhere. The redhead sighed, not knowing if all eleven years-old boys were like that.

He did not recall his siblings and cousins like that; maybe he should ask the nannies who raised them.

Slowly, but firmly he approached the boy and helped him to dry. If the way he did it was correct or wrong he had no idea, but at least was something.

 

*~*~*

Kouen had expected to see Ugo, so Aladdin would be able to say goodbye to him. But there was no sign of the man, he entertained his spouse with English lessons. He did not know what he could talk about with him. Business will, surely, bore him, and his level of English wasn’t good enough for him to understand him at all. So he started to help Aladdin with his English, thanks the Gods, his spouse was a fast learner and were no major problems.  
The flight back home was tiresome and long; he tried in vain to keep Aladdin awake the moment they crossed the time zone. He should have also told Koumei about packing enough food for a regiment in the jet. The good part was that he didn’t eat much, he gave his share to Aladdin who accepted it gladly.

When the plane landed he was almost prepared to see Koumei, but he did not anticipate Kouha and Kougyoku in there as well. He still wondered if his younger brother’s behavior was the one proper of an eighteen years old.

Kouen sent them a glare, the three siblings remained silent until the service got his belongings and they were in the limo. Then, the bomb exploded.

 

“YOU ARE MARRIED?! HOW?! WHEN?! WHY DID YOU NOT INVITE US BIG-BRO EN?!” Kouha screamed excitedly at the top of his lungs, Kougyoku was glancing at Aladdin, Aladdin was glancing back at her with eyes full of hope. And Koumei allowed Kouha to make the questions.  
“Because it was a sudden case and you should not tell anyone about it.” Was his only response to the subject.

“So, where’s your wife brother and boss?” He was expecting that question. Kouen wondered what took them so long to ask that.

“Yes! Where’s Big sister. We can do more with more feminine touch around the Ren Manor,” it was Kougyoku turn to talk, her eyes, almost, glued to Aladdin.  
“I am Kouen of spouse!” remarked Aladdin, Kouha and Koumei finally looking at him. Their eyes were big with surprise.

“You don’t say Kouen of. You say ‘of Kouen’ or ‘Kouen’s’ ”immediately corrected the older man in the limo. His spouse nodded, and with a big smile plastered on his face, he said it again.  
“I am Kouen’s spouse. Name’s Aladdin, read Arajiin too.”

“You are kididn’ right?” asked Kouha.

“Do I look like the type of person who makes jokes?” that was enough statement for his siblings to remain quiet for the rest of the trip back to Ren Manor.  
Somewhere in that time, Aladdin found his way to Kougyoku’s arms. He seemed happy there and she did as well. Even though her eyes showed the skepticism about the whole situation.

 

The service took their belongings into the Manor when they arrived. He ordered them to prepare a room for Aladdin, no explications needed. Even though the boy introduced himself as his spouse every chance, he got. He needed to have a serious talk with him about the matter as fast as possible. He guided him into his office-at-home after asking someone to send Phenex with some tea and pastries.

He indicated where the boy could sit, and he did as told.

“Aladdin,” he sighed, he was jetlagged and somewhat annoyed. “You can’t really go telling people about our …  _relationship_.” Aladdin blinked a few times confused. “It is not normal in here, to be married with someone that is 17 years older than you.”  
“Why not?”

“Because―”

 

“I heard Master Kouen got married durin’ his trip,” Phenex was talking with herself and making herself known before even knocking. She was not going to knock as far as Kouen knew. “Let me know the lucky wi―” Phenex opened the door, her overexcited singing died the moment she saw the boy sitting in one of Kouen’s chairs. The tray she was carrying dropped dead to the floor, her neat attire was dirty now, and she was doing nothing but mumbling nonsense. Then, she began to cry loud. Way too loud for the redhead’s liking. Then she screamed something in that tongue of hers, the one she and the other refugees the Ren family took in usually spoke, at least. And stormed out of the office.  
Aladdin blinked a couple of times, and Kouen sighed resigned! He needed new assistance now.

Kouen tohought that maybe he’d be able to have his Little chat with Aladdin.  
“So, as I was―”

“I’m telling you all! He is here!” He could hear Phenex’s voice coming back, there were many voices following her behind. “He. Is. Here!” Then she started sobbing in a gross way.  
In the threshold of his office, he was able to see not only the crying mess of secretary, but there were: Leraje, Asta, Agares, Dantalion, Vinea and … even Zagan was there! Which meant that Hakuryuu had escaped again. Nevertheless, that wasn’t the important thing.  
Kouen raised a brow, the question implied in his facial expression; he was getting moody and needed to know what on earth was happening. The murmurs of all of them shushed down when they looked at his spouse. Some of them gasped, Leraje joined Phenex in the crying … and now they were hugging, and no one was explaining to Kouen what was happening.  
He cleared his throat, the murmurs almost died at that. Astaroth, Vinea and Dantalion were next to Aladdin―when did they approach his spouse? ― And were almost kneeling, the redhead growled under his breathe. The three Arabian went back to their senses, or so he thought.

 

“We’re so sorry, Mr. Kouen!” cried Asta, both of his hands up. Where he would be able to see them.

“I would love an explanation of why,” he pointed at the whole bunch. “Are you in my office and tormenting my guest?”

“Spouse,” corrected, Aladdin. “I am Spouse of Mr. Ren Kouen’s, nice meet you all.” The gasping in the room was present; they were loud and irritating. He thinks Leraje and Phenex’s cry increased in level now.

He needed to finish that serious talk with the eleven year-old, he can’t just go everywhere he pleases introducing himself as his spouse. He was his spouse, but the rest of the word didn’t need to know it!

 

“He’s just like his father,” cried Zagan, it was the first time he spoke, or even seemed like a human and breathing being. “Although I’d say he’s got Sheba’s eyes. The shape, I mean, her eyes were pink or something like that.”

Kouen shot him a glare, if he was not going to give a proper explanation, better not to talk. That was his first rule. Zagan cleared his throat in an awkward manner, then he took a deep breathe.  
“Mr. Kouen, you know why we are in this country.” Started to explain the blond man, of course he knew! They were refugees of war. Their country, Alma Torran, broke into civil war and they were just a few of the small bunch that managed to escape; the story of how all of these ones came to the Ren household is another one. The red-haired man nodded, giving away the order to his cousin’s tutor to continue his explanation.  
“Well,” he paused, the CEO didn’t need him to stop he wanted answers. “In our country, there was this King. Solomon was his name. Solomon Jehoahaz Abraham.”  
The blond man took off his glasses to clean them up a little. Kouen looked at him; everybody was looking at Zagan. His eyes darted from the blond to his spouse. Aladdin was being held in the arms of Phenex and Leraje … when did they…? Stupid question; Aladdin didn’t seem to mind at all the attention, he rolled his eyes.

“Our Queen was, Solomon’s wife, Sheba. She was … ammm, she was nice.” A loud snort―Vinea’s― was heard in the room; Zagan went beet red. “The fact that we didn’t get along doesn’t mean she was a bad Queen.” Corrected Zagan, his eyes were fixated on Aladdin now.

 

“You did not get along, or you were too posh and full of yourself for her kind tricks?” It was Astaroth who asked now; they were changing the topic of the conversation, Kouen coughed annoyed. They went silent, the bickering died so suddenly.

“As  _I_ , was saying,” the blonde-haired made a lot of emphasis in that. “As usual, our great King was an Alpha, and Queen Sheba was the Omega he chose as his wife.  
“Even though she was an Omega, they for sure took their good time to bear any children,” he reminded silent for a couple of seconds. “Until the day Queen Sheba announced the news to everybody, an heir was on its way.”

Everybody’s faces froze in pain; they were excited before, and now….

“When our prince was born, that woman.” Kouen never thought that such poisonous tune would ever left the blond’s mouth. Not even when he complained about Amon or Hakuryuu himself, he used that voice. “She started to play with people’s minds. She brainwashed them. Moreover, civil war was declared. A few managed to escape, but our Great King, our Queen and their baby couldn’t.”

 

“A lot of the other  _Alnnabils_  and  _Sayidas_  of the 72 court didn’t make it either.” Leraje, who by far was the youngest of the bunch spoke sadly, her eyes full of sorrow and to the verge of tears. Dantalion placed her small hand on Leraje’s shoulder. Agares, who kept himself near the door, sighed loudly. He stopped playing with his pitch-black beard now, and came in closer.

“Apparently and luckily. Some made it through, and that person….”  
“Ugo,” spoke Aladdin after a while. Agares nodded, the redhead could have sworn he saw a tiny smile on the man’s face.

“Good ol’Ugo had to be.” He corrected. “Fortunately Ugo survived and saved you, Aladdin.”  
Everything was silent; the women were still crying with Aladdin in arms, his spouse couldn’t be happier―if the expression of his face meant something.  
He knew that wasn’t the full story of the tale, but he was somewhat satisfied with the answer he got. Their prince was safe and sound, and was with them no―

“Are you trying to say that I am married with a Prince?!” He did want to shout, but his pride was in front of him in that one. Maybe his voice appeared angrier than usual. Aladdin jumped slightly, and his service trembled.

The door flew open; an overexcited Kouha entered the office, followed by an embarrassed Koumei and by ―a River of tears― Kougyoku. The tic of his forehead started to make itself present. However, he was not going to get mad. No.

 

“BIG-BRO EN’S MARRIED INTO ROYALTY!” screamed Kouha at the top of his lungs, and there went the patience of the head of the family (and Kouha’s left side sensibility for two days).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sheikh something like a priest  
> *Aqd Nikah is the marriage contract  
> *Zaffa the loud announcement of the couple’s arrival to the reception.  
> *Sharbat a drink that is passed, and a toast to the healt must be done.  
> *According to Google translate: Alnnabil means Lord and Sayida means Lady


	2. Falling Slowly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "And games that never amount  
> To more than they're meant  
> Will play themselves out"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a short chapter but I'm getting ther, I know where I want to take this fic, the hard part is making the filling to reach it. Thanks for all those who read and left Kudos OwO  
> There would be no romantic shit or sexy times for awhile so bear with it (that's regarding the main pairing)
> 
> By the way, next one Sinbad appears, so does Alibaba and the others ;)
> 
> Song for this chap: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkFB8f8bzbY
> 
> Most of my fics are named after songs, now that I think about it. Or in this case, the chapters are songs lol

He met Aladdin in Summer, he met Aladdin in Fall.  
  
Kouen saw himself making a deal with a stranger in the lands of Alma Torran. For religious beliefs, they signed a contract where Ren Kouen was, legally and officially, buying Aladdin Jehoa-Noi to make her his rightful wife. A woman called Falan was the one to verify the order of everything—her husband was the head of the Temple—, having her on their side was what made everything easier for them. Ugo denied the money, though. Actually, was Ugo the one paying Kouen to marry Aladdin and take him away from those lands; the man, even though he seemed harmless was sharp of mind, but he loved Aladdin, and because of that he had the 11-year-old boy living as a girl. He didn't want anyone harming the boy for being an Omega—which, apparently, was against the 'laws of nature' that the religion dictated.  
  
(Kouen had an idea of how Ugo knew Aladdin was an Omega, even if the boy hasn't presented himself yet. Seriously, as soon as he was able he got his siblings checked to avoid 'unpleasant' surprises the moment they presented themselves. Truth to be told, he didn't want anyone taking advantage of them in case they were Omegas. Kougyoku was going to be an Alpha, and she hasn't presented yet. Kouha was a Beta, so far that's what Kouen thought because there has not been any sign or rut or anything similar.... A very sadistic and messed up Beta that had the looks of a beautiful Omega, if he was being honest. And Koumei was an Omega in a family of Alphas).  
  
His 'payment' for helping out the pair was lying on top of his desk; 3 books in Ancient Torrai—the other 19 were safely kept in his office at home— that he wasn't able to fucking read. He knew the basic of the language, seriously, Chinese and Spanish were kids' games compared to that language. He had Almais working for him, they were under his wing and yet ...  
He finally was looking at Agares, the man put down the book he was trying to read and sighed. "I can't, Mr. Kouen," he looked depressed. "I gave it my best shot, but it really is something we're not able to read."  
  
That, that picked his attention. "Agares, I don't intend for you to break any rule or oath, or whatever you took while you were in the Court of King Solomon." The 'But I hope you know you work for me now, and your loyalties stay with me' was left unsaid.  
  
"It's not like that, Mr. Kouen," the man started playing with his black beard. He'd wanted, so many times, to tell him that the beard was not something that looked good on him; but he's known Agares for a long time now, and without the beard, he looked like a 17-year-old, although with it ... well. He was not going to get there. "We can't read it. As if—"  
The door suddenly was opened, Aladdin entered being followed by Dantalion right behind him. The woman tried to apologize for interrupting, but Kouen cut her off before she could even finish the first word. Aladdin was walking confidently toward him; he bowed before Agares—and goddammit, now he was going to cry because his prince shouldn't be bowing to someone so unworthy like him. Kouen has seen this scene being played several times now—, but when he reached Kouen he stopped himself, eyes bright and glued to the redhead. The CEO sighed and pushed himself away from the desk to give his spouse space to fit in.  
  
Aladdin was needy in a touchy-feely way. And he allowed him a certain amount of contact; like sitting on his lap while there was no one in the office. His blue eyes widened and sparkled, he quickly jumped into the space that was being offered to him and hummed contently the moment Kouen placed a hand on his head. Sometimes he felt that Aladdin was his cat and he was Vito Corleone; he almost laughed at the thought. Absentmindedly he started scenting his spouse with each stroke he gave to that blue-ish head of his. The prepubescent purred; it wasn't a loud sound, it was almost imperceptible, but Kouen could feel the vibrations against his chest.  
"Sorry about that," he said, dismissing the fact they had been interrupted. And dismissing Dantalion as well. "Were you saying?"  
  
"Y-yeah!" stuttered the other man, the CEO noticed how his eyes shone at the sight of his prince and him, but he quickly discarded the importance of it. "We don't speak Ancient Torrai," he said, sounding serious. "Only the royal family was able to read these books."  
Kouen sighed, deception was starting to nest in his chest. So he had the books, but he couldn't read them! Great! Just great....  
  
"Imlle-nau Tteon," said Aladdin out of the blue. Both men stared at him, "Ugo gesintaon!" The boy beamed with each word he said while he pointed at the second book on the CEO's desk. Uninvited, as always, he reached for it and took it carefully in his hands. The cover was green and used. His spouse opened the book in the middle, he passed a few pages until he got to one that was bookmarked with a blue ribbon. The redhead looked up at Agares with a questioning look, when the man shook his head Kouen knew.  
  
"Aladdin?" Kouen called for him carefully. The boy turned his head to look at him, excitement painted all over his face. "Can you read these books?"  
  
The boy nodded enthusiastically. "Ugo teached me!" He paused, considering something. "Thought me? ... no. Wait I remember!" There was another short pause. "Taught me!" Corrected immediately his spouse, Kouen couldn't help but smile fondly at him while messing his hair affectionately. "I can read them to you, En," he was taken aback for the nickname, it was the first time that Aladdin called him like that; turned out, it didn't bother him in the slightest. His eyes sharpened and Aladdin shuddered at that.  
  
"Will you?" He did his best to try and hide his excitement, but who was he trying to kid? Knowledge was something that got him internally screaming a 'Shut up and take my money', the same way Kouha screamed it when he saw something pop-culture related. The kid nodded enthusiastically, way too enthusiastically for his own good.  
  
"Let us make a deal," and he smiled. Kouen didn't have to think about it before giving in. He nodded. "We share bedroom and I read the books to you before sleeping."  
  
He heard Agares cooing at that, a glance was enough to make him shut up. The CEO sighed and offered Aladdin his hand.  
"It is a promise," and Kouen always kept his promises.  
The first days of having Aladdin with them were a little … overwhelming. For three weeks straight he woke up at different hours to find the young uncrowned prince fast asleep against his bedroom door. Kouen didn’t really understand what the deal with that was. He prepared a room for the boy, it was nice and big. Maybe it lacked decorations according to Aladdin’s interests, but he decided to wait until his spouse got interests of his own so he could do whatever he wanted with it.  
The problem resided in the fact that his spouse seemed to despise his room. Did he want something smaller? Did he need a nanny or something? Or was it maybe the weather of the foreign country what got him in an awful mood every time his room was mentioned?  
Phenex kind of explained to the redhead that the Young Prince was not mad, but feeling blue. But she didn’t explain further than that; making Kouen’s blood boil. The terms given to him by Aladdin might be a perfect backlash of what Phenex meant by saying he was feeling down and rejecting his own bedroom.  
  
The Almai settled himself contently, book open and ignoring the rest of the world. Kouen averted his gaze from him, wondering when was the last time he had to take care of a child; all his siblings were grown-ups now, even those that were the result of his father’s infidelity. He reached for his agenda and looked it up. “Agares,” he gave the notebook to the man in front of him. “Please tell Phenex to cancel everything planned for tomorrow.” The man gave him a knowing look but said nothing as he took his leave, not before bowing to Aladdin and Kouen.  
The silence in his office was a nice and comfortable one, Kouen restarted his work while the boy read. He didn’t even notice the time passing. Not until Dantalion entered to take the 11-year-old back to the Ren Manor, the break was over.  
Vinea and Dantalion took happily into teaching and polishing Aladdin’s —not so scarce— English. So far it was going well. Aladdin was a quick learner, which was great. He also spends an awful amount of time in the library of the Ren Manor; of this, the CEO could not complain at all. He liked the idea of Aladdin being as curious and thirsty for knowledge as he was himself. And he was more than willing to answer all the questions the boy had—as long as the interrogatory didn’t clash with his working hours, of course.  
Sometimes the 11 y-o would follow him around like a baby duck follows its mother; the third week with his spouse and Kouen was testing his patience in levels no one would have expected him to have.  
What was dangerous, was the fact that Kouha and Kougyoku took a liking to Aladdin, that was not bad, if they weren’t Kouha and Kougyoku; he feared for the mental health of the boy … and his own, scarce as it was, only God knew how scarce it was because of those two.  
  
Kouen knew his family well, as head of the Ren family that was his duty, so being worried was simple and normal. He could always talk with his siblings about it, but honestly, they never listened to him. Fortunately, Aladdin was a better listener; unfortunately, he asked a million questions per minute. He was considering banning his siblings of access to his spouse, unless strictly necessary. A shame, such ban would only last two days. Kougyoku made clear that that Saturday they were going to go shopping for Halloween; a tradition that’s been for years now. Whatever Holiday it was, they had to go together to buy the decorations or costumes, as it was the case with Halloween. Ren Manor had always been perfectly—and speechlessly—adorned in the Holidays.  
Kougyoku wanted this one to be extra special, it was Aladdin’s first Halloween, months later it’d be his first Christmas and New Year's Eve, and so on. It was going to be a hard year.  
  
  
When he got home that evening the first thing he noticed was silence. His senses sharpened, that could not be good; his Ren sense, a.k.a. the one who screamed ‘your siblings are up to something’, tingled. He almost ran upstairs, he looked through the window of the second floor, no one in the yards, or in the pool. The courts were empty as well; he went back downstairs to find that the kitchen was occupied by the Almais, who looked at him concerned, he dismissed any kind of worry away from them. He was not going to disturb their tea time. He could not just enter into their rooms, but there was a place we could totally stomp in.  
Most likely, Kouha’s haven was being occupied. Kouen walked all three stories to reach the pink door next to Kouha’s room. It started as a Multimedia room, but Kouha started to take it over the years and made it his own. Therefore the bizarre name of Kouha’s Haven.  
  
He barged in without even thinking about knocking, and how glad he was he didn’t. They were all inside, Aladdin included, seated on the bean chairs. Kougyoku was holding a popcorn bowl, their new addition to the family was finishing his own. Koumei was doing homework, or so it appeared to be. Kouha’s special chair was filled with junk food and his thermo (experience told him that there was ICEE inside), while the before mentioned was placing a DVD in the player. “What do you think you are doing?”  
Four heads looked up at him, his sister busied herself eating some popcorn.  
“Brother and Boss,” Koumei was the only decent person to greet him. “We are going  to marathon.”  
  
“What are you marathoning, exactly?” the cautious and scary question made them flinch. Kouha laughed and waved it off.  
“Just the LOTR, big bro-En. Chill!” He sighed somewhat relieved. “Do you want to join us?”  
Kouen shook his head, “I don’t think you are marathoning the three movies tonight. You three have school tomorrow, and Aladdin has a bed time settled.” Kouha opened his mouth in protest, but the glare the CEO sent him, shut him before any sound could come out of it. “Dinner’s at 9 tonight.” No more words were said until he closed the door behind him, then he heard Kouha groaning in frustration. They should be grateful he gave them an extra hour for that; although, even with it, they wouldn’t get far. He knows; he’s been forced into that so called marathon enough times.  
  
Even so, he knew they wouldn’t show up until later, so he asked for dinner to be served at 9:30.  
After he changed his suit for more comfortable clothes, he waited in the kitchen with Vinea and Leraje. Both were talking excitedly about how Aladdin could go to school before the Fall semester was over.  
“He is not going to school just yet,” he announced; when Leraje complained he tossed an oven glove at her. “He is smart, but the language barrier is still there. I don’t want Aladdin to feel anxious for not understanding something, and I don’t want him surrounded by kids yet. Kids tend to be cruel, more so if the new kid is a foreigner and has no family record.”  
  
Vinea was looking at him strangely, he scowled.  
“Nothing, Sir. Just thinking about you and the young prince,” she said in a sing-song voice. “You kind of … hmmm? How you say? … Clicked perfectly. Almost as if you were soul mates.” She cooed loudly at that, Kouen rolled his eyes and decided to leave the two women alone while the dessert was ready. He didn’t stop to see the knowing looks and grins they directed at him.  
They dined as they always did, the older of the Rens made sure to take away phones and other types of distraction; Kouha complained about one of his classes, and Kougyoku made small comments about High School and how this year was going to end worse than the others. To his surprise Aladdin was the first to be excused; he ate as fast as always and even asked for seconds. Once he was done with dessert— _Halawet El Jibn_ made especially for him— he asked for permission to go upstairs, the family acknowledged it and so he retired.  
For the CEO it was not a surprise to see the boy in front of his bedroom door, pajamas on and a green book under his arm. The sight made him smile, Kouen opened the door of his room and allowed the little Omega in.  
  
“You can start reading to me tomorrow night, Aladdin,” said the redhead while he tossed his shirt in the laundry basket. “I don’t think you would make it past a couple of paragraphs.”  
Even though, the boy denied that he was able to. The moment his head met the pillow he was a goner. The Alpha laughed whole heartedly at that, he tucked Aladdin before going to the bathroom to brush his teeth and use the toilet.  
The smell of lemons was all over his bed, he couldn’t find himself to mind, so he closed his eyes.  
  
He couldn’t sleep at all; his brain was working a mile per second, and he was recalling.  
When Kouen was younger, he wanted to study History, the first time Koumei got hurt, he swore he will always protect his younger siblings; at that time his mother had died of illness, no doctor could cure her. His father married another woman, and Kouha was born weak—his mother died during the birth. And so he decided to study medicine with a minor in History. How hard could it be? He got the brains and the time (and the perfect guinea pigs for practice).  
Then, in the eve of his 17th birthday, everything crumbled. There had been a fire in their Summer house upstate; his father and his current wife didn’t make it, neither did his uncle and his wife. If there was someone Kouen admired in that family, that was his uncle.  
Hakuren had called him, he sounded alarmed and scared; he grabbed his keys and drove all the way to the house. He really tried to block the events of that night in the depths of his mind. He grabbed little Hakuryuu and ran away of the burning house. Hakuyuu and the rest could burn to death, for what it mattered to him! It was too late for Hakuren, but Hakuryuu, he could still be saved.  
  
All his plans for the future had gone to the drain in one night, he’d have to study something else, which he didn’t. Raising 6 children and trying to save their family company really got in the way. He managed to finish High School even when all his father’s lovers were on his back claiming child support. But going off to College was not an option for him; not with such responsibilities and a company that could, any minute then, go bankrupt.  
What was he planning to do once he got his Medic License? Kouen grinned bitterly, he wanted to go to Alma Torran, study the history of the place, maybe settle in there for the rest of his life; it was a possibility. The new King took over King David in an uncommon way, Solomon at a young age led a coup d’État against his own father—Or Astaroth said so, he was there after all. Alma Torran was opening to the world, and Kouen was excited! His young-self felt so proud of the events, he never missed a single speech King Solomon gave; he even managed to sneak to whatever country the King was visiting in order to catch a glimpse of the ‘Wisest Man Alive’ whenever he could, he had so many questions, he wanted so many answers.  
He admired the brains that man had. After all, he had all the knowledge of the world in his library. Rumor has it, that, in the past, they even stole from Alexandria a couple of parchments.  
  
But months after his own familiar tragedy, Alma Torran was taken down for one of Solomon’s closest ‘supporters’. And everything was gone….  
He helped some refugees from Alma Torran into the States, he kept a few of them working for him for his own selfish interests and then, Aladdin happened…. Realization hit Kouen hard in the face. Aladdin was the son of the man he wanted to meet the most! The bomb fell heavy on him, and he did not know if it was a pleasant thing or an unsettling one. Of course, in other circumstances, he'd feel proud of being next to such an amazing offspring, because Aladdin’s proven himself as an amazing kid, a little too clingy and needy of him. There must be something he did in a past life —or in this one maybe—, that karma was working strangely for him.  
Was it good that he felt glad, or was it bizarre? Suddenly the words spoken by Vinea that evening echoed in his head. Soul mates? What were the odds of him having a soulmate 17 years younger than him, a boy from another country and an uncrowned prince, nevertheless!  He didn’t know, but he wanted to. His face hurt, that much he knew ... and there was something small and soft next to his cheek, he turned his face slowly and next to him was something that looked, pretty much, like a foot.  
  
Aladdin.  
  
The sight of the boy sleeping next to him was somewhat comforting, he was sprawled with his head almost falling from the bed. He got off the bed and, carefully, accommodated the small body properly, he was tucking him when he caught a glimpse of the boy. His face showed nothing but peacefulness, his lips were parted and his skin felt soft to the touch; he remembered kissing him on their wedding night. That was wrong! That had been so wrong he felt disgusted with himself.  
Kouen finished tucking the boy and left the room, he needed a break to breathe. Just now he was analyzing what he’d done to the boy, he had kissed him, he had wanted to mark him. As he made his way downstairs he could only think of Hakuryuu. Small Hakuryuu and the bastard he called cousin and friend; he could not let himself become like them.  
He was going to protect his family and Aladdin. Even from himself.  
  
When he reached the kitchen, he heard noises inside, his bet was on Kouha, he turned on the light and was greeted by dark hair, blue eyes and a scar. Speaking of the devil.  
The younger was caught halfway eating a sandwich, neither said a word. Kouen walked to the fridge and took the milk out, at this hour of the night, he didn’t care whom the milk belonged to. He poured himself a glass and sat down next to the younger of the Rens. The only words coming out of his mouth were “Uugh, Koumei’s” and he regretted not paying attention, only Koumei drank almond milk.  
He heard a snort coming from his right, but besides that silence reigned.  
  
*~*~*  
  
He had barely slept that night. At 7 am he was ready to go, it was going to be a different day; there was no need for a suit. He made sure to leave Aladdin awake and brushing his teeth before going down to grab a light breakfast.  
He checked his phone to make sure there was nothing important and placed it in the bowl he had in the dining room, where all phones were supposed to be during meals. Koumei was nowhere to be seen, he assumed his brother went back to campus or pretty early or he had left last night after dinner; Kougyoku was half asleep on the table, strands of her hair were being soaked in her coffee.  
“I wasn’t ‘rubbing’ my vegetarian habits onto you! I was just commenting that the amount of bacon you consume at this hour is disgusting!” And there it was the (almost) daily bickering between Hakuryuu and Kouha.  
“Disgusting is eating lettuce and tofu and thinking you’re better for that!” Kouha all but growled, mouth full.  
“I CAN’T eat half what you do!” Hakuryuu had a point, thank goodness he was not lactose intolerant. He would not be able to live with two people drinking almond milk.  
“Have you ever stopped to think that Zagan doesn’t like you because you eat all his precious plants?!” His cousin’s face burned. If it was embarrassment or irritation he didn’t want to know. Kouen coughed to make his presence known; the youngsters stopped and looked at him.  
“Good morning,” he said. Hakuryuu responded grudgingly and Kougyoku—pretty much— responded in auto-pilot. The only one happily saying good morning back was Kouha. The CEO took his place at the table, gave a few sips to his coffee and started to make himself a toast.  
“Are you not going to work today?” Asked his cousin, Kouen shook his head.  
“I have other matters to attend today.” He answered absentmindedly, “you should go to school, though. You’ve missed enough classes already.” He stated, ordered.  
  
Aladdin showed up a little bit before the black haired could say anything, he said good morning and took his place next to Kouen. Hakuryuu raised an eyebrow at the boy. They hadn’t been introduced yet, and Koumei gave his usual seat to Aladdin because it was the ‘proper thing to do, he was bro En’s spouse’.  
“Aladdin,” called the man, the Omega smiled. “This is Hakuryuu, my cousin. Hakuryuu, this is Aladdin, he’s living with us now.”  
The boy beamed, a wide smile adorning his pretty face. “Nice to meet you!” the teenager was taken aback, yet he smiled at Aladdin.  
“Nice meeting you too, Aladdin.” Everybody in that room knew what he wanted to ask so desperately.  
“Aladdin is bro En’s spouse. It is a long story, I’ll tell you all the juicy details later,” said Kougyoku still half asleep, making a gesture with her hand, waving it off. Kouen wished he could send his sister to the corner for a long time-out.  
“W—wait … what?!” the disbelief in Hakuryuu’s face was priceless, he could live with that. “Do you realize that…? When? Why? What the hell Kouen?!”  
“Language!” he shot his cousin a deadly glare while he pointed to his head at Aladdin; even though the boy was not ‘paying attention’ while doing his favorite thing in the world (eating) he was still a minor, and he still had ears. “We will talk later.”  
  
He ended the discussion, for the moment. Still, he knew that later he’d have a lot of explaining to do, he could always let Zagan and Kougyoku to deal with it, but he wanted to do it himself. Aladdin busied himself with his breakfast, every now and then looking at Kouha’s plates. Too much bacon, too much sugar, and too much coffee. He grimaced. Hakuryuu was right in saying that the way his brother ate was too much, borderline disgusting.  
Once he was done, and before Aladdin could share food with Kouha, he stood. “We should be going,” he announced, mahogany eyes fixed on the boy. Aladdin smiled wide and stood as well.  
“Where we going?” he placed his napkin on the table and put the chair back where it was before he used it.  
“You have an appointment with the doctors today.” Aladdin paled and shivered. A. He had had bad experiences with doctors in the past or B. Kouha’d run his mouth. “Let’s go, we shouldn’t be late.”  
The 11-year-old walked as if he were going to his own dead; then he stopped and turned back. “Bye bye! Nice meeting you, you have pretty eyes!” Kouen smiled as Hakuryuu blushed and waved goodbye.  
“Not fair! You had never commented on how much more prettier my eyes are,” his brother whined with mock-hurt, the head of the family just rolled his eyes.  
  
He grabbed his keys and walked to his car, Aladdin behind him. Kouen opened the door for the boy and he climbed in on the red car; Kouen closed the door and rounded the car to get to the driver’s seat. “Put on the seat belt, Aladdin.”  
The boy did as told, Kouen turned on the engine and headed out of the garage and then, out of the manor.  
“Why do I go behind?”  
“You say: in the back,” corrected the redhead while he waited to turn. “Because children are not allowed to go in the front seat. Not until you’re 15 or 16-years-old at least.” He saw Aladdin pouting, but he didn’t comment anything about that matter. They settled into a nice and vague conversation for the whole ride.  
  
At the Hospital, he could feel the minor’s nervousness. He didn’t know if he should break the silence to encourage the kid. Aladdin spoke first.  
“I did read a few things,” the CEO had already noticed how the past tenses were a bit of a difficulty for the Omega, he used did a lot in order to convey what he wanted to say. “Are you Celtic?”  
That question took him by surprise. “No, I am not. I’m actually half Chinese.” Aladdin hummed thoughtfully. “Why do you ask?”  
“In the books, it did say that Halloween was a Celtic party.” The redhead laughed, patted the kid’s head and then tried to explain, the best he could, why they celebrated Halloween. Even though he did struggle a bit with it. Halloween was most of an empiric knowledge for him—as it was for the millions of children and their families—, trying to convey the fact that Scottish and Irish immigrants brought it to America and that marketing wasn’t letting it go so easily was a difficult task. How to tell such thing to an 11-year-old who’s going to experience his first Halloween?; it was like talking to a 3-year-old about Santa Claus and trying to make them understand without breaking their heart.  
  
They were called soon after. The idea of the visit was a quick check and to get his spouse vaccinated. Aladdin cried at that, he didn’t make a fuss but tears covered his face and his lips were still trembling when the doctor was done. He corroborated, indeed, the boy was going to present as an Omega; the CEO also noticed that his spouse was not circumcised—it was the first time he saw a male in the flesh with foreskin, it surprised him.  
Although it made sense, if Ugo had him living as a girl, there would not have been a lot of doctors he could trust. The doctor asked if he wanted to schedule Aladdin to remove it, Kouen denied it. If Aladdin was going to get a circumcision, that had to be his own decision. He felt as if he had taken much of the boy as it already was.  
  
They made their way out of the Hospital to grab something to eat, the Omega looked tired. He must feel tired and dizzy due to the shots. He just hoped for not major reactions, a fever and nausea he could manage. Facing the facts, not everybody reacted the same to being vaccinated, especially, not after 11 years; Kouen just prayed for the best to come.  
The moment they got back home Aladdin was sound asleep in the back seat. The years of experience helped the CEO to take him out of the car and carry him to their bedroom without having to wake the kid up; for the third time in two days he tucked him in. And Kouen realized he didn’t mind it at all, he wouldn’t mind doing it for a long time. The Alpha inside of him almost purred at how warm and domestic the situation felt, protectiveness shown in those mahogany eyes of him. He didn’t know much about Aladdin, but he wanted to. Being a man of few words, he found himself wanting to say more; even if those words some times tried to fool him and the Omega was so spontaneous he barely had time to react. He removed a few strands of hair off Aladdin’s forehead before deciding it was best to leave the room.  
  
He saw that Hakuryuu was with Zagan in one of the courts, and oh, he had a lot of things to say to that brat! So he made his way to where his cousin and the blond Almai were.  
Hakuryuu stared intently at him the moment he got there and their eyes met. The redhead cocked a brow, Kouen grabbed a basketball and tossed it at his cousin. The raven haired barely could catch it, but he took in on the challenge anyway. He always did, as Kouen knew he always will.  
Some years ago the match would last a few minutes, 30 minutes or so. Every year, Hakuryuu became more and more stubborn in letting him win. He never allowed him to, Kouen was too good for Hakuryuu to be a match for him. If he said so himself.  
The sun was almost setting when they came to a stop, both Rens were sweating a lot, Hakuryuu was panting—even with his useless efforts to hide it. Kouen was breathing heavily himself; not like his cousin but he needed to catch air if he wanted to make it completely through the rest of the afternoon … evening. Zagan, Astha and Phenex were waiting for them, a moment came when Kouha decided that seeing his brother and cousin playing basketball for so long was too boring for him and left, which moment had that moment been he did not know.  
Kouen looked up, in one of the windows of the third floor he noticed that Aladdin was there. As he grabbed the towel that Phenex offered to him, he gestured with his free hand to the boy to join them. His big blue eyes widened even more and he disappeared from the window.  
“It is good you called for him,” Astha started. “He’s been looking at you through that window since he woke up from his nap.” Kouen coughed, for how long was he awake then?  
“Didn’t you try to call him?” he passed the towel back at Phenex, Zagan and Hakuryuu were bickering about something but he didn’t care to pay attention, he only wished those two would sort of their difference and make out already … no! He’d kill Zagan if he actually dared to do that to his cousin; not that he expresses it.  
“He tried,” Phenex said passing him now a bottle of water, which he drank fast. “Aladdin was just waiting for your approval.” And she bit down her lower at that. The redhead guessed he was going to need another long chat with Aladdin.  
  
The before mentioned showed a minute or so after, Kouen noticed that his knee was bleeding. He cocked a brow in question and his spouse smiled sheepishly at him. “I fell,” he said as if it were something relatively common and normal. The CEO sighed while he grabbed another towel and sat in one of the benches around their basketball court. The boy immediately followed him.  
“Sit,” he said, Aladdin did as told. Kouen, gently, grabbed the injured leg and placed it on his lap; he poured some water on the fresh wound and started to clean it in slow and soft motions. He didn’t want Aladdin to catch an infection or something, besides he could bet that he ran all the way to meet him and fell somewhere between the garden and the stairs.  
He had to be proud of his spouse, he was a brave little boy, he did not scream and, by the way, he was grimacing, was enduring the pain. The redhead pinched one of his chubby cheeks. “Stop,” commanded him. “If it hurts let me know.”  
“Don’t hurt,” Aladdin thought about it for a couple of seconds. “I don’t know the word for it.”  
Astha offered a couple of words for the boy to use, but the problem was that he wasn’t so familiar with the sensation of a scratched and bleeding knee.  
“Stings,” offered Kouen. Aladdin nodded, he didn’t even ask what that means; he was so trusting of him. It was endearing and creepy-scary at the same time.  
  
“Oh, you’re finally done!” Kouha’s cheerful voice filled the place, making sound Hakuryuu and Zagan like mosquitos in the distance. “And you stink!” commented he, the moment he approached closer to see what Kouen was doing to Aladdin. “Aladdin, you should let someone else do that, right now big-bro En stinks.” He knew the fact that sweat stinks, and he hated it! There was nothing he hated more than the idea of being dirty.  
His spouse nuzzled closer to him and shook his head, “he does not,” he closed the space Kouen didn’t know the boy has left between them. Before Kouha arrived there was like an arm's length between them, now there was almost not a single inch. The siblings cocked their brows in awful synchronicity, none of them able to believe what the boy was saying; something in Kouen’s mind wanted to make click, he was sure that there was a connection in the fact that Aladdin couldn’t recognize the difference between a bad smell and a normal/good one. So far, he was sure the boy didn’t have any complications; he took him to the doctor just hours prior, and everything was alright, besides, if there were something bad with the boy’s sense of smell they’d have noticed already. Aladdin could recognize and differentiate aromas well.  
  
“Kouen smells like cinnamon and ginger,” there was the point he wanted to prove. His spouse’s been saying that since he learned how to say ginger and cinnamon in English. “It is fresh, I like it.” His words were way too marked, maybe he’d have to tell Vinea to help his spouse with his r’s. After all, she also had that problem when she first came to the manor and who could be better to help, explain and guide than someone who had already gone through that?  
  
The laugh of Kouha woke him up from his own thoughts, the young man was practically rolling on the floor. Were his siblings raised by apes or something? Aladdin looked mortified and Kouen patted his head to reassure him; that always seemed to work if the way the boy closed his eyes and smiled was something to base on.  
“I’m so sorry,” Kouha breathed out difficulty. There were tears showing in his violet eyes. “Ginger,” he said and approached Kouen grabbing a strand of his red hair and laughing again. “Ginger!” fortunately for the young man, Aladdin was too busy asking what he meant by ginger, because Kouen was pretty sure his fist was ready to land on the 18 y-o’s girly face.  
  
“Ginger is another way to call a redhead, like Kouen and Koumei,” the voice of Hakuryuu surprised the married couple.  The CEO wasn’t expecting him to even try to talk with the boy or with him, but that was a matter of fact. “Some use it as an insult, though.”  
Aladdin nodded with his whole face enthusiastically.  
“It is of such bad taste if you ask me.” Complained Zagan, on one hand, Kouen wanted to agree with him, but he’d been called ginger ever since he can remember. The fact that he’s a Ren never helped because his back was always kind of open. Name and family reputation was of no help when it came to children’s mean games. And truth to be told, he didn’t care.  
As long as it doesn’t affect him he doesn’t care. Arms were around his neck soon after Zagan finished talking. Kouen raised a brow at his spouse.  
“Ginger is good, I like it,” Aladdin whispered in his ear, he could feel tears against the hot skin of his neck. “But if it make Kouen feel bad I never say it again.” The redhead sighed and glared at Kouha and Zagan threateningly and 'hugged' the boy with one arm, while he patted, with his other hand, his head. In no time, he found himself hugging the boy; he wanted to blame his Alpha and its protectiveness.  
  
Hakuryuu was the one interrupting their moment. “So, you won,” yeah! He had won, he knew. “What do you want?”  
“You’re, by no means, skipping Saturday shopping. In fact, you cannot set foot out of this house for more than 10 hours—Monday through Friday—; until Next Year at least.” He didn’t even pretend to think about what he wanted in return for winning their little basketball match, he knew that infuriated his cousin even more than the idea of having to spend time at the house.  
Kouen grinned.  
  
*~*~*  
  
“In some regions of the Middle-East, an Omega cannot do much without his Alpha’s approval.” Started Astaroth. “It is like a sin to go against what an Alpha says, so many Omegas are raised to believe that they do not have a voice of their own, that they are only worth for breeding or for Alphas to have a good time.  
The schools are separated, Alphas get a type of education, Betas get another while the Omegas if they are lucky to go to school at all, are repeated over and over again what they should do, how to cook, take care of babies and such. It is also well known for them that if their Alpha denies them touch or the bed they did something incredibly bad and are unworthy.”  
  
Oh! So that’s the reason why Aladdin hated his own room, he clenched his fists until his knuckles looked white. How Astaroth described it, it was what his father called a treatment for servants; in Kouen’s opinion, not even a servant deserved to be treated like that; he felt so angry for what that woman was doing in those lands. He felt furious that Aladdin had to grow 11 years of his life living that without him to protect hi—  
He shook his head, without anyone, besides Ugo, to protect him. That sounded better.  
He could see the oldest of the bunch still talking, but Kouen couldn’t get himself to listen to what was being said. The redhead decided to call it a day; he had his very strong opinion for not letting Aladdin go to school just yet, but what if his idea of homeschooling him until he was ready was wrong? He was sure the two teaching him will not do or say anything to harm the boy’s mind or self-esteem; they were so used to living in America and the customs in there to try it … but what if they did? Vinea and Dantalion were Omegas. Even if Dantalion was more of a free-rebel-gay-promiscuous-spirit, were they taught that? What if subconsciously they taught Aladdin the same things were beaten into their brains?  
Kouen was not sure, but he was certain that if that were the case, he would eliminate them. Nothing nor no one would ever hurt, in any way, a boy who has (most likely) suffered enough. A little Omega that looked at him with eyes that screamed ‘I know you’. An Omega that was his to protect. His.  
He felt something heavy in his throat, he had growled without even intending to.  
  
Astaroth was looking at him with concern painted all over his face, Kouen apologized. “Let’s go home,” The (real) ginger smiled fondly as they gathered their things to get out of the office.  
Kouen realized he couldn’t go back now. Vinea’s words tried to make their way into his stubborn head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, what Aladdin says in "Ancient Torrai" is just a game of words I made up and it's Italian. What he says is:
> 
> Imlle-nau Tteon - mille una notte (1001 Nights)  
> Gesintaon - insegnato (taught)

**Author's Note:**

> This is a gift for my best friend, a birthday present to be more accurate. Hun I love you so so so much <3 I hope you like it, even though it's a ship that only I ship (but I know that you'll ship it too soon(??))


End file.
